BITCHES DON'T KNOW BOUT MY NAGEL

A Del Tigre Joint

Pop quiz, Hotshot:
You're locked in the Museum of Modern Art with a half ounce of pure cocaine. You realize your only option is to inhale a monster line and crank up your thinking to the point where that light bulb over your head explodes from the sheer brilliance of the escape plan you just devised. But you're surrounded by sleek modern sculpture. You can't rail off that shit, dawg! You'll have to choose a picture from the wall and lay it flat. It's risky, but it just might work. But hold on -- there are thousands of pictures.
Which do you choose?
WHICH DO YOU CHOOSE?

Answer = this one:



That's right motherfucker, you chose a Nagel. Good job! Now you can enjoy your blow in style and then MacGyver your way to freedom and beyond. Vaya con Dios, brah.

Bio and Criticism:
Patrick Nagel died in 1984 at age 38. He suffered a heart attack in his car after running a marathon for the American Heart Association. You might call that hilarious irony. I call it a tragic loss for the art world, you asshole.

Nagel had the artistic sensibility of a coked-out Lichtenstein drooling over the escort listings in a sushi bar. Although his career was defined by portraits of women who were probably named Claire or Roxy or Corvette, his style reflected a broader aesthetic unique to the 80s -- a sort of permanent detachment brought on by too much. This aesthetic resonates in the decade's pop culture, in movies like Scarface and Wall Street, books like White Noise and Less Than Zero, and major metropolitan areas like Miami. But Nagel didn't just jump on the bandwagon: he helped define the style. He created much of his work in the 70s, galvanizing this glamourous nihilism in the minds of the public, and on the fronts of beauty parlors everywhere.

But enough talk. Let's get down to art. First, some music to set the mood (I will not disgrace this blog by posting the most appropriate song -- Duran Duran's Rio, cover art by Nagel -- but I will disgrace it by posting Phil Collins):



Now let the smooth sounds wash over you as you enjoy a brief sampling of Nagel at his finest:


































Bonus!